page_title: Dockerizing a Node.js Web App
page_description: Installing and running a Node.js app with Docker
page_keywords: docker, example, package installation, node, centos

# Dockerizing a Node.js Web App

> **Note**: 
> - **If you don't like sudo** then see [*Giving non-root
>   access*](/installation/binaries/#giving-non-root-access)

The goal of this example is to show you how you can build your own
Docker images from a parent image using a `Dockerfile`
. We will do that by making a simple Node.js hello world web
application running on CentOS. You can get the full source code at
[https://github.com/enokd/docker-node-hello/](https://github.com/enokd/docker-node-hello/).

## Create Node.js app

First, create a directory `src` where all the files
would live. Then create a `package.json` file that
describes your app and its dependencies:

    {
      "name": "docker-centos-hello",
      "private": true,
      "version": "0.0.1",
      "description": "Node.js Hello world app on CentOS using docker",
      "author": "Daniel Gasienica <daniel@gasienica.ch>",
      "dependencies": {
        "express": "3.2.4"
      }
    }

Then, create an `index.js` file that defines a web
app using the [Express.js](http://expressjs.com/) framework:

    var express = require('express');

    // Constants
    var PORT = 8080;

    // App
    var app = express();
    app.get('/', function (req, res) {
      res.send('Hello world\n');
    });

    app.listen(PORT);
    console.log('Running on http://localhost:' + PORT);

In the next steps, we'll look at how you can run this app inside a
CentOS container using Docker. First, you'll need to build a Docker
image of your app.

## Creating a Dockerfile

Create an empty file called `Dockerfile`:

    touch Dockerfile

Open the `Dockerfile` in your favorite text editor

Define the parent image you want to use to build your own image on
top of. Here, we'll use
[CentOS](https://registry.hub.docker.com/_/centos/) (tag: `centos6`)
available on the [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/):

    FROM    centos:centos6

Since we're building a Node.js app, you'll have to install Node.js as
well as npm on your CentOS image. Node.js is required to run your app
and npm to install your app's dependencies defined in
`package.json`. To install the right package for
CentOS, we'll use the instructions from the [Node.js wiki](
https://github.com/joyent/node/wiki/Installing-Node.js-
via-package-manager#rhelcentosscientific-linux-6):

    # Enable EPEL for Node.js
    RUN     rpm -Uvh http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
    # Install Node.js and npm
    RUN     yum install -y npm

To bundle your app's source code inside the Docker image, use the `COPY`
instruction:

    # Bundle app source
    COPY . /src

Install your app dependencies using the `npm` binary:

    # Install app dependencies
    RUN cd /src; npm install

Your app binds to port `8080` so you'll use the` EXPOSE` instruction to have
it mapped by the `docker` daemon:

    EXPOSE  8080

Last but not least, define the command to run your app using `CMD` which
defines your runtime, i.e. `node`, and the path to our app, i.e. `src/index.js`
(see the step where we added the source to the container):

    CMD ["node", "/src/index.js"]

Your `Dockerfile` should now look like this:

    FROM    centos:centos6

    # Enable EPEL for Node.js
    RUN     rpm -Uvh http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
    # Install Node.js and npm
    RUN     yum install -y npm

    # Bundle app source
    COPY . /src
    # Install app dependencies
    RUN cd /src; npm install

    EXPOSE  8080
    CMD ["node", "/src/index.js"]

## Building your image

Go to the directory that has your `Dockerfile` and run the following command
to build a Docker image. The `-t` flag lets you tag your image so it's easier
to find later using the `docker images` command:

    $ docker build -t <your username>/centos-node-hello .

Your image will now be listed by Docker:

    $ docker images

    # Example
    REPOSITORY                          TAG        ID              CREATED
    centos                              centos6    539c0211cd76    8 weeks ago
    <your username>/centos-node-hello   latest     d64d3505b0d2    2 hours ago

## Run the image

Running your image with `-d` runs the container in detached mode, leaving the
container running in the background. The `-p` flag redirects a public port to
a private port in the container. Run the image you previously built:

    $ docker run -p 49160:8080 -d <your username>/centos-node-hello

Print the output of your app:

    # Get container ID
    $ docker ps

    # Print app output
    $ docker logs <container id>

    # Example
    Running on http://localhost:8080

## Test

To test your app, get the port of your app that Docker mapped:

    $ docker ps

    # Example
    ID            IMAGE                                     COMMAND              ...   PORTS
    ecce33b30ebf  <your username>/centos-node-hello:latest  node /src/index.js         49160->8080

In the example above, Docker mapped the `8080` port of the container to `49160`.

Now you can call your app using `curl` (install if needed via:
`sudo apt-get install curl`):

    $ curl -i localhost:49160

    HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    X-Powered-By: Express
    Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
    Content-Length: 12
    Date: Sun, 02 Jun 2013 03:53:22 GMT
    Connection: keep-alive

    Hello world

If you use Boot2docker on OS X, the port is actually mapped to the Docker host VM,
and you should use the following command:

    $ curl $(boot2docker ip):49160

We hope this tutorial helped you get up and running with Node.js and
CentOS on Docker. You can get the full source code at
[https://github.com/enokd/docker-node-hello/](https://github.com/enokd/docker-node-hello/).